Medical debriders are used in various procedures, such as in sinuplasty procedures carried out in a patient nose. Examples of prior art techniques for using debriders are provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,371,934, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an irrigation system for removing arthritis-causing fragments from a joint in the body, the system includes a handpiece and a tip that is connectible to the handpiece. The tip includes a shaft that forms an irrigation lumen, and a debrider disposed along at least a part of the shaft. The debrider defines a substantially planar debriding surface for debriding the interior surfaces of the joint. The debrider may include a plurality of bristles extending from the shaft to the debriding surface.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0148835, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,814,484 on Nov. 14, 2017, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a bendable medical device that includes a distal housing, an outer support tube, an inner drive tube, a coupler and a commutator portion. The coupler and commutator portion serve to axially constrain a distal end of the inner drive tube during bending, and to supply fluid for lubricating, cooling and irrigating the distal end of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,433, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a surgical suction cutting instrument with internal irrigation. The instrument includes a tubular outer member defining a cutting chamber with an opening, an inner member with a distal cutting edge movably received in the outer tubular member and a flushing mechanism for supplying fluid to the cutting chamber via an outlet communicating with the cutting chamber.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0148729, now abandoned, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for removing at least part of a brain tumor that may first involve contacting a forward-facing tissue cutter disposed at the distal end of a tissue removal device with the brain tumor. The tissue removal device may include a shaft having a diameter no greater than about 10 mm, and in some embodiments the tissue cutter does not extend laterally beyond the diameter of the shaft. The method may next involve cutting tissue from the brain tumor, using the tissue cutter. The method may then involve moving the cut tissue through a channel of the shaft in a direction from the distal end of the tissue removal device toward a proximal end of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,957, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for performing sinus surgery that utilizes a sinus debrider instrument. The method includes the steps of positioning the distal end of the instrument at an operative site within the sinus, cutting tissue at the operative site within the sinus by rotating the tissue cutting surface, removing the cut tissue from the sinus through the suction passage and supplying fluid to the tissue cutting surface through the fluid passage to facilitate the removal of cut tissue without introducing fluid to the operative site.